For the second time this season, the State of Jefferson Elite Rugby Club met the defending league champions, the Shasta Highlanders. And, for the second time, the men from Redding routed the Siskiyou County men.

The Elite stuck to their usual ground-and-pound style of play, and both the backs and forwards had some success moving the ball against the Highlanders, but a dynamic kicking game from Shasta gave their adept backs plenty of space to cross the try line. A tackling penalty in the second half put one Elite player in the sin bin for ten minutes, and put the Jefferson men down to fourteen players. Shasta took advantage and capitalized on errors from the Elite squad.

Man of the Match, Joe Hopper, commented, "We played very strong against the defending champs. We drove hard and hit hard." Both sides were impressed with the number of fans who came out to watch Siskiyou County rugby. Hopper noted the enthusiastic group that came to enjoy the match, and said that they were, "the best fans I've seen at any match."

The SOJ Elite will travel to Arcata to play the Humboldt HOGs this Saturday, but will be back at Lower Greenhorn for one last league match on March 23.